HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL: Pennington puts pounding on Steinert

PENNINGTON — Pennington coach Bernie Gurick couldn’t quite remember the play but Dave Perry would like to forget it.

Or have never even witnessed it.

It was a blocked shot in the paint by Myles Stephens, which Pennington turned into a three-point play that steadied the Red Raiders ship in a 71-47 victory over the Spartans last night.

Trailing 40-24, Steinert (6-11) went on a weird 11-0 run, as it scored the final seven points of the first half on foul shots that resulted from an intentional foul, a foul on a 3-point attempt and a technical.

The Spartans opened the third quarter with buckets by Antonis Llanio and Shane Plunkett to cut it to 40-35, and after a defensive stop the Spartans found Devon Smith underneath for a seeming lay-up.

But Stephens blocked the shot and Pennington zipped downcourt for what resulted in a three-point play by Isiah Taylor to make it 43-35. The Red Raiders outscored the Spartans 28-12 from that point to win heir second straight.

“I don’t remember that one play in particular, I just remember us stepping up on the defensive end,” Gurick said. “We gave up 31 points in the first half and just 16 in the second half. That’s what turned it around.”

Perry put a little more emphasis on the play.

“That was the key right there,” said the coach, whose team got just five fourth-quarter points. “That was the turning point in the game. They blocked it, went down, boom! Got a three-point play and went from there.”

“It was definitely a momentum swing,” said McWhirter, who also had to be reminded of the play. “If they had gotten within three I don’t know if we would have been able to stop their run. But we fought them off. We weathered their storm.”

It was Pennington that stormed to a big first-half lead as its quickness forced Steinert into 12 turnovers (23 for the game) that resulted in numerous transition lay-ups and 64 percent shooting (16-for-25) in the half.

“Our offense comes out of the defense,” Gurick said. “Our pressure allows us to get tips or steals and get our fast break going because they love to run the floor.” The only thing that slowed the Raiders was themselves with some silly fouls at half’s end that allowed Steinert to get back in it.

After Taylor’s aforementioned three-point play, Steinert hung for a few more possessions and trailed 45-40 before the Raiders went on a 26-7 run over the final 13 minutes.

Nick LaBelle led Steinert with 13, but was blanked in the second half by Pennington’s tough zone defense.

“We just had to hedge better,” Gurick said. “We weren’t hedging in the first half at all and we were losing sight of our man and getting beat. We did a better job in the second half.”

Stephens led the Raiders with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Tyler Jones had 18 points, Taylor added 16 and Kaison Randolph had 12.

In the middle of it all was the pesky McWhirter.

“Paul brings a great deal of intensity to the team,” Gurick said. “He’s a very unselfish player, he can control the ball, and he can see the floor and find the open man.”

Asked if he prides himself on being a pain in the butt, McWhirter smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not the quickest guy but I like to work hard but make sure I work harder than everyone else.”